Trials & Tribulations
by Cuoghi Bear
Summary: Austin and Ally are good friends. What happens when one person's dark, and possibly deadly, secret invades the other's life? Can their friendship survive? Can they survive? Read and find out. Stay true Jess
1. What Happened to You?

**A/N: Hey everybody I am back with another story! I am almost finished writing the whole thing! I am so excited because I think that this story is ten times better than my last one. So far I have about 40 handwritten pages ready to go. Just letting you know that Austin and Ally are just very good friends in this one so there is no romance. This is rated M because it can get a bit intense at some points. I hope you enjoy. ~Jess**

**Chapter One – What happened to you?**

**Ally POV**

I was standing behind the counter at Sonic Boom finishing up opening the store when Austin walked in. The two of us had been working together for a bit over a year now and we had formed a pretty tight bond. Something seemed different about him this morning. He seemed to be walking with a limp and there was what appeared to be a bruise forming on his left cheekbone.

"Austin, what happened to you?"

"Oh… um… I tripped and fell down the stairs this morning. No big deal."

"Oh, ok then. Are you okay though?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Ok, so what's up?"

"Nothing really, just thought I could hang out with you for a bit today."

"Well I have to work until noon, but after that we can go do something."

"Ok, I'm going to go hang out in the practice room then."

"Alright, I may come up in a bit."

I watched as Austin made his way up the stairs and into the practice room.

**Austin POV**

I walked up the stairs, aware of Ally's eyes watching me. I tried to hide the screaming pain I felt with every step that was radiating from my leg and side. As soon as I walked into the practice room and closed the door I collapsed to the floor in a silent scream, being careful not to fall onto my right side. I lay on the floor for a short while as I felt the silent tears fall from my eyes. I finally gathered the energy to get up and gingerly rose to my feet. I hadn't gotten a chance to inspect the damage that had been done to my body. I walked over to the mirror on the wall and rolled up the right leg of my pants to see a large gash going from my shin just below the knee slanting down to the outside of my ankle. It didn't look too horrible but it was still pretty bad. After rolling the leg of my jeans back down I went to inspect my right hip. The skin of my hip had been broken a little and had turned a deep purple from the bruising. I finally got the courage to look up at my face in the mirror. There was a slight bruise across my left cheek but it definitely wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I was saving the worst injury for last. My side. I almost cried just thinking about how bad it would be. I tried to take a deep breath to calm myself down but ended up causing myself more pain. I pulled my shirt over my head and almost passed out at what I saw there. The skin was so badly bruised that parts were black. It was swollen and looked horrible. I lightly pressed the skin to see if I could tell if any ribs were broken. The second my fingers touched the skin, I felt a pain so great that my knees gave out; I fell to the ground screaming.

**A/N: Ooh, cliffhanger. I should have a new chapter up tomorrow. Review please all criticism is accepted. (If it sucks tell me please.) **

**Stay true**

**~Jess**


	2. A Look Into the Past

**A/N: First I just wanted to say thank you to cezar139241 for warning me about yesterday. I am just a casual reader and writer so I'm not on the forums and such so I don't get the information. Ok so everybody wants to know what happened to Austin. Well here it goes.**

**Chapter Two – A look into the past**

**Ally POV**

I heard a scream coming from the practice room and ran up the stairs as fast as I could. I opened the door to see Austin on the floor, shirtless, curled up in a ball. I ran over to him and what I saw scared me. His side was bruised black and swollen. There was no way that happened from falling down the stairs.

"Austin, what happened?"

"Nothing, I'm fine."

As he said this, he tried to stand up but fell back onto the floor panting and sweating.

"Obviously you're not fine now I need to get you to a hospital."

"No! No hospitals! Too many questions."

"Fine, just tell me the truth. What happened to you? This obviously did not happen from falling down the stairs unless the stairs ended in a cliff."

"I can't tell you."

"And why not?"

"Because he will kill me, and then you."

"Who will?"

"I can't."

"Austin Monica Moon I swear that if you do not tell me right now I will call and ambulance and then the cops right now and then they can deal with it."

"Fine, I will tell you, but first can you help me out. I'm kinda in a lot of pain right now."

"I don't know what I can do. I'm not a doctor."

"Just do something, I don't care."

I figured that I should probably put ice on his side to get the swelling to go down, but I was afraid that the weight of ice would cause him more pain. I ran over to the closet and grabbed a bucket and a towel and filled the bucket with water and ice. I dipped the towel into the ice water then wrung it out and carefully placed it on his side. The relief was almost instantly shown in his face.

"Alright Austin now you need to tell me who did this to you."

"My father."

"What? How long has this been going on?"

"About five years now."

"Since you were twelve?"

"Yeah, about then."

"How come you haven't been this beat up before?"

"Well usually he doesn't beat me like this."

"What does he usually do?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

**Austin POV**

I really didn't want to talk about what usually happens. I went to sit up and my side didn't hut as much as it had earlier but I felt my leg starting to bleed again. I rolled up my pants leg again to examine the cut. I heard a gasp beside me as Ally jumped up and ran into the closet. She returned a few moments later with a first aid kit. She cleaned up and bandaged the cut. When she was finished she gave me a glare that could melt steel.

"Any other injuries that you need to tell me about?"

I pulled down the waistband of my jeans to show her the damage to my hip.

"Anything else?"

"Just my cheek."

She walked back to the closet and returned with more towels. She took the smaller towel and put some ice in it and thrust it at me. I took it and pressed it to my face. Then she repeated the same process that had used with my side on my hip.

"Ok Austin, now you are going to explain this all to me or else."

"Fine, but you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone."

"I promise."

I took a breath to calm myself, still feeling the twinge of pain in my side and tried to keep myself from completely breaking down.

"As you already know, it started when I was twelve. My mom had gone on a business trip for the week and my dad was getting frustrated with everything. I had a tendency to hide out in the basement when he was getting mad, but this time he followed me into the basement."

"Wait, Austin, are you alright? You're shaking."

I hadn't realized it but I was shaking and about to break down and start crying. Ally wnt over to the couch and grabbed the blanket that was thrown over the back. She returned to me and wrapped it around my shoulders, then carefully put her arm around my shoulders.

"A bit better now?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"Ok, you can continue now."

"Right, so anyways, this one day he followed me into the basement and came up behind me. He started caressing my sides and hips; it was weird. Then he started pulling my clothes off and grabbed a rope and tied my hands behind my back and pushed my onto my stomach on this table. The next thing I knew, he didn't have any clothes on either. And my father raped me."

**A/N: You like? I sure do. It will get even better soon. I will post a new chapter tomorrow when I wake up (which could be 8 am or 2 pm who knows). I just want to say thank you to anybody who reads my stories. I love writing them. Please review! **

**Stay true**

**~Jess**

**Funny little side story:**

** I have been writing this story in a notebook and yesterday I was working on it and I had to go get something so I left my notebook on the couch. When I came back in the room my mother was about to pick up the notebook. "Mom, don't touch my book!" "I just want to see what you are writing since you read all of my books." "You asked me to read those. I don't want you reading mine. There is a huge difference." "Fine." I thought it was funny.**


	3. Returning Dread

**A/N: Ok this chapter is going to be really short. I can't make it any longer because the next part has to be in a chapter of its own. Well I hope you enjoy.**

**Chapter Three – Returning Dread**

**Ally POV**

"And my father raped me."

He spoke the last words that I could barely hear. He just sat there and stared at the floor. Suddenly he started shaking violently. He buried his head into my shoulder and cried. It tore at my heart to see him like this. I wrapped my arms even tighter around his shoulder.

"Austin, everything is going to be okay. I am always here for you. You know that, right?"

I felt him nod into my shoulder. After a few more minutes he had composed himself a bit and sat back up. He still looked like he was fighting against the tears that were threatening to return.

"One thing though, that story still doesn't explain why you were beaten up this badly today."

"Today was different."

"What happened?"

"I fought back this time."

"Oh."

"I can't go back there tonight."

"Well if you want you can stay here tonight."

"Ally, that would be awesome."

**Austin POV**

That night Ally and I slept in the practice room on the large air mattress that we kept in the closet for those times that we would work through the night. I ended up just lying there staring at the ceiling for most of the night. I was dreading returning home in the morning and facing my father's wrath. At some point I finally managed to fall asleep.

**Ally POV**

When I woke up in the morning Austin was still asleep. I decided to let him sleep. I went downstairs and opened the store. When I went back to check on Austin he was laying on the mattress with his eyes open, staring at the ceiling.

"Hey Austin."

"Oh, hey Ally."

"How are you feeling today?"

"Sore, very sore. And I really don't want to go home."

"Then don't go."

"I have to. My mom is coming home today so I have to be there to pretend that everything is perfect and happy."

He stiffly got up and put his shirt on, wincing as it brushed his side.

"Well I guess I will see you later then."

With that he walked out the door to head home.

**A/N: Ok that was really short, but the next 2 chapters will be posted tomorrow. I cannot post one of them tonight and then the other tomorrow. They both have to be posted on the same day. Please review. I really love hearing from my readers.**

**Stay true**

**~Jess**


	4. The Return Home

**A/N: Hey all. Thank you to everybody who reads this story. I will be posting 2 chapters today, one now and one tonight. The reason is because the same events will happen in each of the chapters but the POVs will be switched. I feel that it is not fair to you if I post a chapter one day and then the next day is the same things happening. So anyways here is the next chapter.**

**Chapter Four – The Return Home**

**Austin POV**

I walked into the house and found my dad sitting on the couch watching TV. He was of average height with a burly build, dark brown hair, and tanned skin.

"Don't you have to go pick Mom up from the airport?"

"Change of plans, she has to stay for another week."

"Oh."

"So where were you?"

"None of your business."

"Excuse me?"

Uh oh. I'm in trouble now. I ran up to my bedroom and locked the door. A few moments later I heard my father stomping his way up the stairs. I slid myself under the bed so it would be more difficult for him to grab me. I heard the doorknob rattling, followed by a stream of curses. My father started banging into the door. I heard the sound of wood breaking and felt the floor shake as the door fell to the ground. I saw the wood splinters spread across the floor. He walked into the room and paused, then turned and walked over to the closet and opened the door. After realizing the I wasn't in the closet he walked over to the bed an dropped to his knees. I rolled over to that my back was to him and there was nowhere for him to grab me and pull me out. Or so I thought. The next thing I knew he had his hand in my hair. I tried to pull away but he already had a firm grip and he pulled me out from under the bed by my hair. He picked me up so that my feet couldn't touch the ground and threw me to the floor. My body hit the floor and all the air that was in my lungs was suddenly gone and I felt a large splinter pierce the skin of my back. I couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't scream.

"I'm going to ask you one more time. Where were you?"

"Why should I tell you where I was? It's not like you care."

With that comment, he grabbed my neck and thrust me against the wall.

"You know that I care. Now tell me where you were or I will find other ways of making you talk."

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his knife.

"Fine, I was with Ally. We were working on a new song.

"Did you tell her anything?"

"No, I didn't say anything."

"Good boy. But you still have to be punished for defying me, boy."

He placed the knife at the base of my throat and cut my shirt off. He walked over to the bed and dropped me onto it. When he did so, I managed to pull up my leg and kick him in the chest. He stumbled backwards, momentarily stunned. With tremendous spee he picked me up and threw me against the wall. I fell to the floor, gasping for air. My father came over to me and kicked my left side. I blacked out for a brief second from the pain.

"If you want to fight, then actually fight, you worthless child."

I tried to get up but kept falling back to the floor in pain. My father came at me with the knife in his hand. I felt the knife enter my stomach and a scream ripped from my throat.

"Austin?"

That was definitely not my father's voice. It was…

"Ally!"

My father's knife entered my abdomen again. I let out another scream and saw Ally in the doorway with her eyes wide in horror. I tried to yell at her to run but no words could reach my mouth as my father stabbed me for a third time. I didn't even have the energy to scream. I just stared at Ally. My father followed my eyes to see Ally standing in the door way. He dropped the knife and pulled out a gun that I didn't even know he had and pointed it straight at Ally.

**A/N: Don't you just love cliffhangers? I sure do. Well that was chapter 4 if you could please review that would be awesome. So I will post another chapter later tonight. I do have one thing to say and I will probably say it again tomorrow, from this Friday through the end of next week I may or may not be able to post any chapters. I have a lot going on with my family next week and I will not be spending much time on my computer instead I will be having an amazing time with my family. Thank you to everybody for your wonderful support of this story.**

**Stay true**

**~Jess**


	5. Good News, Bad News

**A/N: I almost totally forgot about the second chapter that I promised you guys. I got really wrapped up in a book all day. (I finished the book though.) After I was done with the book I had to do a ton of chores I put off all day. Well I was just watching TV and realized that I forgot to post this chapter. Oops. Well here is the next chapter.**

**Chapter Five – Good News, Bad News**

**Ally POV**

Right after Austin left, I went to check my email and there was one from Trish:

_ Hey Ally, I just got the best news. Austin has been offered a record deal by Miami Records. I would have sent him an email but I forgot what his email address is and I am still waiting for my new phone so I can't call him. Could you tell him for me? Thanks girl._

I was so excited to hear such amazing news for Austin, especially since he had been having a bad day. I called him to tell him the big news, but he didn't answer his phone. He always answered his phone. Maybe his phone battery was dead from not having his phone charger while he was here all of yesterday and last night. I decided to go to his house and tell him in person.

I was about to knock on the door of his house when I heard a loud crash. I tried the door and found it unlocked. I walked in and tried to figure out where the sound came from when I heard a terrifying scream.

"Austin?"

I started up the stairs toward Austin's bedroom.

"Ally!"

His voice was definitely coming from the bedroom. I broke into a run headed towards the source of the commotion. I stopped in the doorway, halted by the wreckage that littered the floor. My gaze drifted to see Austin lying on the floor underneath his father in a pool of blood. Austin's eyes were glaring into his father's face. The man took his knife and thrust it into Austin's stomach. He let out a horrible scream and his head rolled to the side so that his face was towards me. His eyes found mine and all I saw was fear and pain in those eyes. His mouth began to move but no sound came out. His father stabbed him once again and Austin didn't scream; he just kept his eyes upon mine. I was mesmerized by his eyes and did not see as his father dropped his knife, pulled out a gun, and pointed it straight at me.

**A/N: Alright that was Ally's POV on what happened. I would put more up but I am doing a bit of a rewrite for the next couple of chapters so I should have the next chapter up tomorrow night rather than in the morning. And again I thought I should say again that starting this Friday through the end of next week I cannot guarantee anything in the way of posting new chapters because of some stuff that is going on with my family. So I will hopefully have another chapter up tomorrow. Please review. Thanks to everybody.**

**Stay true**

**~Jess**


	6. A Note To My Readers

**Hello my wonderful readers. I profusely apologize for not updating for a very long time. Ok so when I posted the last chapter I said that there was something going on with my family and I wouldn't be able to update for a while. Well my dad came home from his deployment and I was spending a lot of time with him. Ok so then when I was going to post another chapter my computer had an epic crash and I lost every one of my files and I didn't remember where I had put my notebook. (I know where it is now though.) I had done all of my rewriting on my computer so now I have to redo all of the rewriting. I will be leaving for college next week and I have been going crazy getting everything packed and ready. I promise that I will finish this story however it may take a while. I just have to wait for things to settle down a bit to give me time to write. Just please be patient with me. Again I apologize for everything.**

**Stay true,**

**~Jess**


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